Film and TV parking workers vote to unionize

Roughly 400 employees responsible for keeping city streets clear of cars during TV and film shoots voted Monday to join the Communication Workers of America, Local 1101. The parking production assistants serve ABC, CBS, NBC, NBC Cable, HBO and Sony, and comprise roughly half the people currently working in the sector within the five boroughs.

An announcement from the union included that most of the workers are nonwhite and labor in prolonged shifts to block off parking spots in the days and nights ahead of location shoots. The work often means engaging with disgruntled motorists. A 2016 lawsuit alleged that many parking assistants receive illegally low wages and no accommodation for bathroom breaks.

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“I'm very pleased to welcome parking production assistants to the CWA family,” said Dennis Trainor, vice president of CWA District One. “These workers have been struggling for far too long to make ends meet in unfathomable working conditions, and today’s unanimous vote is a historic moment for both CWA and the hardworking men and women who help ensure that the city’s film industry can function.”

Other unions have tried to organize PPAs, including the United Auto Workers a decade ago.

The CWA effort drew support from much of the city’s political class, including Mayor Bill de Blasio and Public Advocate Letitia James.

Two days after the unionization, a group of parking production assistants represented by the firm Valli Kane & Vagnini lodged a suit in federal court against HBO. The plaintiffs allege that the Time Warner-owned station removed them from their jobs and denied them pay and overtime for participating in a 2017 labor suit. Valli Kane & Vagnini secured a $700 million settlement from Paramount and Red Granite Pictures in 2017 on behalf of a group of parking assistants who alleged the studios had paid them sub-minimum wages and obligated them to urinate and defecate in bottles and buckets.

A spokesman for HBO, when reached for comment, said by email, "We believe the case is without the merit.”